You can install any modern Windows or Linux version, desktop or server, using Hyper-V in Windows 8.1. But you'll need to bring your own license and software for the base OS. Here's how to get that OS cheap or even free.

With Windows 8.1 just out the door, Windows 9 is slated for a late 2014 release. With little to go on except sheer creativity and a bevy of ideas, designers and enthusiasts have published what they think the next-generation desktop, notebook, and tablet software should look like.

I've already railed against Apple's overhaul of iOS 7, with its jarring use of white and its over-reliance on textual Web motifs. But, as the rest of the software industry follows suit – and as Microsoft and Apple blur the boundaries between tablet and desktop user interfaces – it's worth asking if the user experience really is improving.

Dell Software this week delivered Foglight for Virtualization Enterprise Edition, to extend the depth and breadth of managing and optimizing server virtualization, as well as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and their joint impact on such IT resources as storage.

Tableau Software recently announced that it would begin giving away its Tableau Desktop analytics software. Having spent some time with the tool, I can say that this could mark a turning point in the way students think about data.